The burning freighter “Fremantle Highway” has been off the Dutch coast for days – and finally there is a first ray of hope. For the first time, salvage specialists were able to board the ship and also establish a stable connection to a tugboat, the Coast Guard said on Friday. Where the freighter is to be towed is still unclear.
“In the course of the morning, measurements made it clear that the temperature on board the Fremantle Highway had dropped sharply,” said the Coast Guard. Thus, the salvage people could go on board. The fire was still raging, but it would decrease, it said. “The smoke is also getting less.” What is to happen now must be decided by the state water authority. “We are still preparing for all scenarios,” said the spokesman for the water authority, Mathijs Tax, the German Press Agency. This also includes the worst case scenario: the freighter, which is loaded with around 3,800 cars, breaks up or capsizes.
The result would be an environmental disaster in the North Sea and the nearby Wadden Sea. And now it has become known that there are far more electric cars on the freighter: 498 and not 25, as previously assumed. This was announced by the charter company K-Line.
It is unclear what this means for the development of the fire deep down on the car decks of the 200 meter long steel colossus. Because the batteries in electric cars are more difficult to extinguish. An electric car may also have been the source of the fire, but that has not yet been confirmed.
The ship is currently stable
The fire broke out on Wednesday night on the car deck of the Panama-flagged ship. It was on its way from Bremerhaven to Singapore and was about 30 kilometers north of the Wadden Sea island of Ameland at the time. The crew had been evacuated. One person died as a result.
On Thursday, the burning ship drifted west to the level of Terschelling, in front of the island it is now about 23 kilometers to the north. The Coast Guard said it was stable. Wind and current forecasts are favorable that this position can be maintained.
From the plane, the Coast Guard took pictures and checked the temperature. The team of experts from the salvage company is now waiting on the tug “Guardian”, right next to the freighter. As soon as the temperature permitted, they went on board. The “Arca” is also ready, a special ship for clearing oil.
But how long can the ship’s steel wall withstand the heat? “You can’t predict that,” said the spokesman for the Tax authority. At the moment, the side walls are no longer cooled because too much seawater has gotten into the ship. This could make the freighter unstable.
Warning of an environmental disaster
That would be the worst case scenario: the ship breaks apart, lists, capsizes and sinks. An estimated 1.6 million liters of heavy oil would spill out, heavy metals affecting nearly 4,000 cars. Oil and pollutants could also spread to nearby unique bird breeding grounds and coastlines.
The residents are worried. Because the islands live from tourism. “The big fear is oil,” said Ameland’s Piet van Tuinen, representing many, to the Leeuwarder Courant newspaper. “If that gets on the beach, we’ve got a gigantic problem.” However, the forecasts for wind and current are favourable. In an emergency, pollutants would flow north into the open sea.
The emergency services also hope that they can finally fight the fire on board. But that is also difficult, said the head of the special task force ship security of the Hamburg fire brigade, Dirk Flocke, the German Press Agency. On ships you have to deal with metals, narrow corridors, pollutants. Deleting car transporters is particularly problematic. The decks were packed tightly together. You can’t get to the source of the fire with a hose.
